[3][14][15][16] Certain bolete and russule mushrooms have been used in shamanic practices in Papua New Guinea by the Kuma people and other ethnic groups and have been reported to cause "madness".
[19][5][2] In any case, the detected indolic compounds would need to be extremely potent, on par with lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), to account for the claimed hallucinogenic effects of Boletus manicus.
[19][18] Heim, who notably discovered Boletus manicus, reported three self-experiments with consumption of tiny amounts of the mushroom that resulted in strange dreams on one occasion, but clearly perceptible and uncontroversial psychoactive effects were not experienced.
[21] The Yunnan mushrooms are said to become non-hallucinogenic with proper cooking (for at least 15 to 25 minutes), which presumably destroys their active constituents, and are commonly consumed in well-cooked form as food in the province.
[11] In any case, popular edible bolete species in the province include Butyriboletus roseoflavus, Lanmaoa asiatica, Sutorius magnificus, and Rubroboletus sinicus.
[5][2] The phenomenon of hallucinogenic bolete mushroom intoxication in China is well-known and frequently covered in local and national media in the country.
[1][22][23][24] The earliest report, published in 1991 by a Yunnan hospital, described 300 cases of Boletus speciosus poisonings, with effects starting 6 to 24 hours after consumption, lasting days to months, and including both open-eye and closed-eye Lilliputian hallucinations of people and animals.
[11][20] Other effects in more serious cases included psychosis- or schizophrenia-like symptoms, auditory hallucinations, pareidolia, disturbed thinking, aberrant behavior, personality disintegration, and stupor.
[20] The same researchers administered extracts of the mushrooms to animals, including to dogs and to a rhesus monkey, and found that they produced abnormal behavior that started after 5 to 12 hours and lasted up to 2 days.
[20] A news article in 2014 reported that a Yunnan woman was purposely and repeatedly consuming hallucinogenic bolete mushrooms so that she could have hallucinations of and thereby see her deceased daughter.
[11][25] A case series of Boletus edulis (porcini) mushrooms causing visual and auditory hallucinations in two women was published in the Chinese literature by a Beijing hospital in 2014.
[1][26] Similarly, in 2016, a case report was published of hallucinogenic mushroom poisoning in a Hong Kong woman who had consumed a bolete that had been purchased in the Yunnan province.
[8][9][10][12][20] United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, unbeknownst to her at the time, ate cooked (and thus inactivated) hallucinogenic bolete mushrooms while visiting China in 2023, and this was widely covered in the media when it occurred.
[2][35][36] Imleria badia and Xerocomellus chrysenteron, which are also bolete mushrooms, have been reported to produce variable amounts of β-phenethylamine, tyramine, and tryptamine.